OTHER DESERT CITIES In the New England premiere of Jon Robin Baitz’s drama, tension builds during a Christmas gathering in Palm Springs when a writer tells her family she is poised to publish a memoir that includes a painful chapter from their past. Directed by Scott Edmiston and featuring Anne Gottlieb, Nancy E. Carroll, and Karen MacDonald. Jan. 11-Feb. 9. SpeakEasy Stage Company, Wimberly Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.comDON AUCOIN

PIPPIN Diane Paulus turns the 1972 Broadway musical from Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson into a circus spectacular, with spectacular success. The acrobatics themselves are extraordinary, but what grounds this production is “ordinary” stuff like accomplished acting, singing, and dancing. Plus it has a warm heart. Through Jan. 20. AmericanRepertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.americanrepertorytheater.org

OUR TOWN “When the theatre pretends to give the real thing in canvas and wood and metal,” playwright Thornton Wilder wrote, “it loses something of the realer thing which is its true business.” Director David Cromer’s stark production aspires to Wilder’s “realer thing” and achieves it. Through Jan. 26. Huntington Theatre Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-266-0800, www.huntingtontheatre.orgJEFFREY GANTZ

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